Merry Christmas Eve, my be-ay-yoo-tiful Rulers! I hope all of you have a brilliant Christmas tomorrow. :)

En-juh-hoy!

Games

Ch 22: Like Father, Like Son

I gulp and step toward the door with Jason and Seto by my side. "So, what exactly are we doing in this Challenge?" Jason asks.

"We're fighting."

"We're fighting?" Jason asks, sounding alarmed. "Like, us against you?"

The GameMaster chuckles. "Of course not! You weaklings wouldn't stand a chance against me. You'll be fighting each other."

"Nah, I'm not really in the mood," I drawl, trying to return to my normal-ish, jokey self.

The GameMaster is not amused. You might even say he is displeased. #DispleasedGameMaster.

Okay, no. That is the worst hashtag I have ever hashtagged in my entire hashtagging life.

"Skybrine, I actually have a special surprise for you."

I raise an eyebrow. "Oh, do you, now?"

"Indeed. Let's enter the Challenge Room, and I'll show you what it is."

I hesitantly follow him into the Challenge Room, and the rest of the Team follows me. Through the black Challenge door is a stadium that looks like that of an ice hockey game. The stands are separated from the middle area with glass walls, and there's a red half-door that lets you move between the stands and the middle area.

The middle area is nothing like an ice hockey game, though.

There is soul sand coating the floor of the middle area, and there are small netherrack structures sticking out at some places. The ceiling is non-existent. The ceiling is just a dark red mist that I don't want to touch.

"Oh, this looks... nice," I comment sarcastically, glancing at the arrangement. Beautiful. Is this where we're going to kill each other? I'd always imagined I would die in the middle of a budder castle either of natural causes or at the hand of my father.

MUAHAHA, BUT HE WOULD NEVER HAVE GOTTEN PAST MY FIVE BILLION BUDDER GOLEM GUARDS! If I had them, that is. And if I even had a budder castle to begin with.

"Skybrine, why don't you go into the arena first?"

"I'd rather not."

"I don't care what you'd rather do, get in there."

"Is this my 'surprise?'"

"Maybe."

"Well, it sucks," I announce bluntly as I hop over the red half-door/gate/whatever and into the arena. "I'm not fighting any of my friends."

"Oh, that's alright, you can just fight Ty."

"I- What!? That's not what I meant," I argue, frustrated. The GameMaster only shrugs. "No way, I am not fighting Ty."

"Fine, fine, we'll get someone else. Just go in there and wait, alright?"

I ignore his suspicious tone and walk out into the middle of the arena, glancing around at the netherrack structures. The souls in the sand grab at my ankles, but I'm used to it from living in the Nether for most of my childhood, and it doesn't slow me down much.

For a moment I allow myself to remember the day when I met Ty. I was incredibly young – like, five or something – and I had run into him while trying to avoid a murdering session with my father.

"Who are you? Why do you have a tail? How come I don't have a tail? Wait, do I have a tail?" my five-year-old self had asked, turning around to attempt to check if I had a tail. I had not found one, sadly.

"I-I'm Ty, a-and I'm an Enderdragon hybrid. W-Why are your e-eyes glowing?" Ty had asked.

"Because I'm the son of that guy over there," I had replied, pointing to my father, who had been flying above the trees in the distance, "the one who's raging and throwing lightning at stuff. I'm Skybrine- er, I'm Sky." I could be who I wanted to be in the OverWorld.

"Why is your dad all angry?"

"I don't know. I tried to ask my mommy why he was always mad, when she was still alive, and she told me it was all in his genes."

"His jeans? What's wrong with his jeans?"

"I don't know, maybe he got a hole in them or something and his mommy wouldn't buy him any new ones."

I snap out of the memory with a dazed smile on my face. I don't think I'll ever forget that day, because it was one of the best in my life. After talking with Ty for a while longer, though, I had had to return to my father before he set fire to the entire dimension.

It was alright, though. I came back to visit Ty whenever I could.

"BEGIN!" the GameMaster yells, and I whirl around, surprised by the sudden noise.

I really don't want to fight any of my friends. This is not good, this is not cool, this is-

Not happening?

Who am I fighting? There's no one here! I can see most of Team Crafted up in the stands, but I can't see the GameMaster or the person I'm supposed to fight-

"Hello, Skybrine." His voice carries across the room to me, and I freeze in place. "I haven't seen you since the day you left me for your worthless OverWorld friends. How are you?"

"I'd be better if you wouldn't call my best friends worthless," I growl, spinning around to face Him. He's standing with His notorious diamond pickaxe raised, His eyes lighting up the blocks immediately in front of Him.

Herobrine.

"Hey, I'm just calling them what they are," He shrugs, casually walking towards me. I narrow my eyes and growl at Him, and he pauses, steps back a bit. "Woah, there, son. Calm down a little, there's no need to get violent."

"The GameMaster did put us in here to fight," I remind Him, beginning to move closer to Him.

"Well, if we're gonna fight, I'm gonna win," my father says, raising His pick a little. "You know this. I'm just trying to buy you some time."

"You won't win. I've beaten you before, I can beat you again."

"You had your friends backing you up that time. This time, you don't." He stops for a second, studying my face. "And anyways, I just wanna know what my son's been up to lately! Can't a dad be involved in his child's life?"

"No, not when the dad is you and the son is me," I grumble quietly, walking toward Him more quickly now. He takes another step back, but He doesn't look the least bit scared.

"Come on, now. How's that friend of yours, the one you had a crush on? Tyler, was it?"

"Ty," I hiss in correction, still moving towards Him. He seems to shake a little as He takes a few more backward steps, but He still isn't showing any facial signs of fear. Good Notch, dude, a teensy little terrified expression would be really comforting to me right now.

An enchanted budder sword suddenly spawns right next to me, and I snatch it up before the souls can snatch it down. "This is for everything," I snarl, leaping forward and attacking my father.

He cries out as my sword grazes His arm, but He manages to move over enough to avoid any big wounds. Pfft, my father crying out in pain? This is something I haven't seen before. He always hides His pain so well if He ever gets hurt. Oh, and it's next to impossible to hurt Him.

I lunge toward Him, stabbing my sword in the direction of His heart, but He jumps out of the way again just in time. Oh, that's weird. He just barely made it; the souls grabbing at his ankles held him back a little. My father would never be held back by soul sand – after all, he lives in the Nether. He's used to it, just like I am. I don't give myself time to think much about it, though, as I move forward for the next strike.

"SKY!" my friends shout. I whip around to see them pounding on the glass wall that separates me from them. They look somewhere between concerned and furious. Well, yeah, I'd be concerned and furious, too, if my friend's murderous father came back to fight him when he didn't even have his powers anymore. Stupid GameMaster, making me give up my stupid powers. "SKY, STOP!"

Stop?

Heck, no! I think I might actually be winning!

I roll my eyes again and turn back to the fight, jabbing my sword towards Herobrine. He jumps backward and starts walking away from me while still facing my direction. "Come on, is that all you've got? I thought I taught you better than that," He taunts me, but He puts His hands up like He's trying to beg for mercy. What is He playing at?

"I can do worse than this," I growl defensively, taking one large step forward and pushing my father up against the three-block high netherrack structure behind him. He quivers under my touch, and I press my budder blade up against His neck. He always hated budder. "Ironic, right?" I ask, grinning cruelly.

Cruelly?

I don't grin cruelly.

I'm not my father.

I let up slightly, not pressing as hard onto His neck as I probably should to keep Him pinned. Can I really kill my own father? I mean, sure, He's an evil demon – literally – but do I really have the heart to kill Him?

I'd be disappointed if I did.

Then again... He did try to murder me. And my friends. And He also tried to make me like Him-

My mind seems to freeze for a second as a nearly silent sniffle is heard.

My father does not sniffle.

He does not sob, He does not cry, He does not sniffle.

I glance down at His face. He doesn't look like He's sad, scared, hurt.

But there's that sniffle again.

My father does not step back from a fight.

My father does not get hurt.

My father does not show pain.

My father is not held back by soul sand.

My father does not sniffle.

This is not my father.

I jump away from the person who looks and talks like Herobrine, and then I yelp a little as my entire world flashes gray. What's going on, what's happening?

My visions flashes again, and this time it makes the person I used to think was Herobrine look like- like Ty. Then He returns to normal.

I shake my head and rub my eyes furiously. When I open them again, my vision is completely normal.

And Ty is standing in front of me, his arm bleeding profusely, a thin line of blood on his neck.

"Ty! T-Ty, I'm so sorry, I-"

He just shakes his head as salty tears leave tracks on his cheeks. The rest of Team Crafted suddenly stumbles through the gate and into the arena; the GameMaster must have put up some kind of force field around the gate so they couldn't get through before. "Ty! Are you okay!?" they shout, running over to him.

Ty doesn't speak. He just nods slowly, not taking his eyes off mine.

Seto suddenly spins around to face me instead of Ty. "What is wrong with you, Sky!? You were this close to killing him!"

"Why would you do that!?" Jason yells, close to tears. "I thought you said you weren't going to fight any of your friends!"

"You almost freaking murdered him!" Ian shouts, glaring at me.

"I- I-"

"The GameMaster was right," Jason mumbles. "You're just like your father."

*gasp* ERMERGERSH, THE DRAMA! *dies*

No, seriously, though, this chappie is just... XD

Took me five entire minutes to stop fangirling over my own chapter.

I need help. :/